Semiotic analysis in brand & strategy research

If you have never heard of the term “semiotics”, you are not alone. Most of our customers feel the same way. It often seems like fortune telling to them when we talk about deciphering the signals emitted by a product or packaging. In fact, semiotic analysis is based on a solid scientific foundation.

Semiotics ('the study of signs') is a science that originated in the Anglo-Saxon and French-speaking world. Charles Sanders Peirce and Ferdinand de Saussure are considered the founders of modern semiotics. 

Semiotics is the study of the meaning, use and analysis of signs (or sign systems). Signs convey, secure and transform information - meaning is everywhere. The fundamental meaning of signs is based on the assumption that every cultural phenomenon can be understood and analysed as communication. 

Semiotic analysis provides insights into how symbols/codes, and therefore messages, are understood in different cultures. We use semiotic analysis to decode the implicit messages of products, shops and shelves.

In contrast to traditional qualitative market research, where consumers are asked about their perception (reception), semiotics analyses the signs emitted by a product, packaging or shelf.  

Colour, shape, structure, arrangement, lighting, layout - all this is semiotics. Very often, certain codes already prevail in shops, shelves and product categories. 

Semiotic analysis can therefore be conducted as an independent module within a study, completely independent of a survey. All we have to do is define the corpus to be analysed (which products, which packaging, etc.?). No recruitment required as no consumers are involved.

It makes sense to analyse what products are telling us. Because every product, every innovation, every idea conveys a message: not only explicit, but also implicit. Consumers cannot verbally express the meaning of implicit messages. 

Semioticians see what others only feel. We observe, analyse and decipher what a product, a brand, a shelf, a shop communicates. It is about uncovering the rules of a category by identifying the inherent codes. We see and analyse what a brand, a shelf, a product communicates visually, translating the meaning of shape, colour and design.